


Interlude: Halloween Vigilante Cosplay

by whatomen



Series: Jason Todd - Collector of Strays [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Arkham (Video Games), Batman: Arkham - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Again I’m so bad with tags that I don’t know why I even bother, Jason Todd and the kids, Jason Todd has a dog, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 03:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12572472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatomen/pseuds/whatomen
Summary: Jason, Roy, and Biz take Edgar, Evelyn, and Bud trick-or-treating.





	Interlude: Halloween Vigilante Cosplay

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in the ‘Collector of Strays’ universe but stands alone.
> 
> The chapter title is a play on a line from the main story.
> 
> For the sake of this little piece, please note both kids are now well aware of Jason being the Red Hood
> 
> (If you’ve just stumbled onto this story, welcome! Just a heads up that it won’t make complete sense unless you’ve been reading the main story!)

Jason wasn’t exactly fond of Halloween for a few reasons; namely that all the crazies would decide to come out of the woodwork. The only thing he had going for him this year was that there wasn’t a full moon. He wasn’t superstitious, but life experiences had made him very careful about where he pushed his luck. 

While past Halloweens had simply been another patrol night -albeit one where he could be more out in the open amongst all the costumed adults- this Halloween found him actually doing something he had never done in his life: trick-or-treating.

“Oh my god, that house is giving out full-sized candy bars!” Roy exclaimed, watching as kids left the doorstep of some house with massive Snickers bars in each of their hands. 

Jason really didn’t want to be knocking on people’s doors, nor did he particularly trust the candy that was being handed out. In fact, the only way he had agreed to the kids going out had been that no one eat the candy until they returned back home and he had inspected every piece. Roy had called him a party pooper, but Jason had not budged on the subject. It hadn’t really mattered in the end as Roy had let the argument drop as he had been given the go-ahead to design whatever costumes he wanted, much to his delight.

Biz smiled, using a finger to push his glasses back up as they kept drooping down his nose. “Biz like candy.” 

The Kryptonian clone was draped in a large custom-made black cloak, a burgundy and dark-yellow striped scarf wrapped around his neck, and of course...a lightening-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. He had been adamant about going as Harry Potter, much to the surprise of absolutely no one.

It figured that Biz would love a holiday that was focused not only on kids, but also candy; he was holding a large plastic pumpkin that was already full of treats. His other arm held Evelyn, whose own arm had fully healed and who had no need for a wheelchair as her leg cast had been replaced by a walking boot a little over a week ago. Still, with all the walking, Jason and Roy were not taking any chances, and Biz hadn’t minded carrying her here and there when they felt the walking got too much.

Evelyn looked just as excited as everyone else did at the thought of even more candy, and laughed as she watched Roy and Edgar hold back from running at full speed towards their target house. With a long wig of braided red hair, Evelyn was dressed in a very accurate replica of Artemis’ battle-wear, courtesy of Roy.

The guy had been determined to make it as authentic as possible, even the braiding of the wig something that Jason felt his friend had spent an unhealthy amount of time on. Yet it was nothing compared to the great lengths Roy had gone to in order to create the get-up.

Artemis had almost thrown him off the roof when she had found him trying to snoop through her things, not believing him when he had told her why he was trying to get a look at her armor. It had taken several minutes while being held upside down by his ankle to convince the Amazon that he was not being a pervert.

Jason had seen Artemis scoff as she had watched Roy inspect her armor, but there had been no way she could hide her pride at seeing Evelyn in the finished costume. 

It was the only photo Jason now had of Artemis, who had posed for it alongside Evelyn, both of them looking so pleased. If Artemis’ cheeks were slightly red, then no one commented on it or the fact that she had uncharacteristically asked Jason to send her the photo. 

Of course, being impressed with Roy’s efforts had not lasted long as Artemis had seen Roy come down in his costume...also a very accurate replica...of Wonder Woman’s armor, complete with wig.

“Roy...maybe you should go wait for us outside...” Jason had said slowly, watching the way Artemis looked ready to attack, if her throbbing temple was any indication.

Artemis had refused to go with them trick-or-treating, which was probably for the best as Jason had seen several Wonder Woman costumes within minutes of them leaving the house.

“You can’t have any chocolate Bud, it’ll kill you” Jason reminded the large canine, who was attempting to sniff the bottom of the bags Jason was carrying. 

Jason had known that Roy had used the holiday as fair game to design a costume for his dog, and although he hadn’t disappointed, it had certainly made Jason question his friend’s ego.

Bud was dressed as Arsenal, complete with two quivers attached to either side of her like saddle bags, a bow strapped to her back, and a red domino around her face. Roy had taken so many photos of Bud and had spent ten minutes explaining all the minute details of what he had designed with Bud’s precise measurements in mind. It wasn’t until Jason had threatened to go as the Green Arrow that Roy had pouted and shut up.

“Come on, Red! More candy!” Edgar practically shouted, grabbing Jason’s hand and trying valiantly to drag him towards the house. Jason hadn’t even bothered with a costume, not in the Halloween sense of the term; he was dressed as the Red Hood, minus the helmet. He was armed too, although considering all the kids about, he kept his guns in hidden holsters as opposed to at his side.

He supposed it was the universe’s continued warped sense of humor that he was being dragged around by a miniature Batman. Edgar had wanted him to be surprised, but Roy had obviously known better, and had given Jason the heads up. 

Apparently Edgar was a huge Batman fan; the irony there not being lost on the adults. The boy had _really_ wanted to dress up like Batman, complete with padded muscles, and Jason really didn’t have the heart to tell him no.

It hadn’t stopped Jason though from asking as casually as he could, why Edgar hadn’t thought about dressing up as the Red Hood. 

Edgar had shot him one of his well known ‘are you really this stupid?’ looks. 

“I can’t dress like the Red Hood when I’m going out with the _real_ Red Hood. Duh.”

And that was that.

So there they were, a Harry Potter, a Batman, a Red Hood, a Wonder Woman, a canine Arsenal, and a mini Artemis...strolling down the crowded streets. The kids had met other children, commenting on each other’s costumes, laughing at Roy, staring at Jason, pointing at Bud, and gawping at Biz.

Jason realized pretty quickly that they had amassed a group of followers, with other kids and parents following them. They were in an upper middle-class neighbourhood which meant everyone was pretty comfortable with knocking on doors in the area, but there was always a risk, and clearly people were looking at Biz and thinking ‘yeah, we’re going to follow them just in case shit goes down and we need protection’.

There were a lot of costumes...the usual ghosts (where clearly the parents had panicked and waited to the last minute), werewolves, vampires, etc... but of course there were Supermans, Batmans, Wonder Womans...even an occasional Robin (which Jason refused to let irk him). But none of that mattered as he was already lugging bags filled with candy; he had been deemed the ‘extra candy bag’ holder.

“That guy was totally checking me out” Roy whispered to Jason as they made their way back down the street after practically raiding the homeowner’s bowl of Snickers. “He kept staring at my legs.”

Jason looked down at Roy’s legs and then looked back up. “Maybe it’s because you shaved your legs, Roy.”

“It’s called authenticity. I wasn’t about to walk around with hairy legs in this!” Roy pointed out.

“Uh huh. Remember you did it for authenticity when you start itching like crazy in a couple of days.”

Roy dismissed the warning with a wave of his hand as they turned the corner. They had already amassed a large stash of candy and Jason thought the novelty of collecting candy had gone at this point. Until Evelyn and Edgar started pointing at a house that had a decent sized crowd around it.

It was a haunted house that the neighborhood was known for and apparently a big hit every year if the crowd was any indication.

Jason didn’t want to go into the haunted house, as he was fully aware that with his past, there could be all sorts of supposedly innocuous shit in there that could be triggers for him.

He watched though as families with small kids walked away from the house, everyone all smiles, so it couldn’t have been that bad. Still, with the kids begging him to come with them, Jason sighed and quickly went to check with one of the homeowners standing out front to see what was in there. 

Everyone looked at him expectantly when he came over and sighed. His resignation was met with cheers all around as they stood in line and waited their turn to enter. 

***

Going through the haunted house was the best decision Jason had ever made.

It had been completely boring as they wandered through the house, nothing really jumping out at them as it was just meant to have a humorous creepy factor considering it was supposed to be family friendly. That was...until they reached the end.

He would always remember the shrill sound of a child shrieking, and seeing Roy with Edgar in his arms, holding the boy in front of him like a shield. 

Roy looked horrified that he had been personally responsible for the source of hysterics, and Edgar couldn’t stop laughing even as he was being held up as a barrier between Roy and a mirror that now had a ghost projected onto it. 

As they walked out of the haunted house, Roy with his hand over his heart, Jason laughed along with everyone else and made fun of him all the way home.

Going out tonight had totally been worth it. It was a shame Artemis had missed it but she’d certainly be getting the play by play much to Roy’s mortification.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to rpglady76 who planted the idea in my mind.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Interlude: Halloween Vigilante Cosplay [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14841077) by [whatomen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatomen/pseuds/whatomen)




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